Star Trek Discovery: To Boldly Blow It
By Marc Giller | September 27, 2017, 02:25pm | @MarcGiller Star Trek has always had something of a checkered history with pilot episodes. Back before the classic series run, NBC actually rejected Gene Roddenberry’s original pilot, “The Cage.” Lore has it that the network suits thought it was too cerebral, but I’m guessing it might have had more to do with the slow, deliberate pacing and the aliens that looked like they had butts with bulging veins planted on their heads. Still, many of the elements that Star Trek would soon make famous were there—most notably Spock, the Vulcan science officer, and the starship Enterprise herself in all of her glory. NBC apparently saw something they liked, because they took the unprecedented step of giving Roddenberry a second chance at a pilot.
The resulting “Where No Man Has Gone Before” was a retooled vision of Star Trek, somewhat more action-oriented but still heavy on the science fiction. Gone was the self-doubting Captain Cristopher Pike from “The Cage,” replaced by the more confident Captain James R. Kirk (later changed to James T.), and with him came the all-too-human Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, who could always be counted on for a drink and some sage advice whenever the captain needed it. And there was, of course, Spock, the only character to make it from the previous pilot. Word is the suits wanted him gone, but Roddenberry managed to keep him on because chicks seemed to dig the pointy ears. The rest, as they say, is history.
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http://theresurgent.com/star-trek-discovery-to-boldly-blow-it/
